How one conversation changed the career of MotoGP’s newest rising star

Brian Uriarte is emerging as one of MotoGP’s brightest prospects in his rookie Moto3 season, but his career could’ve taken him on a much different path.

Uriarte has won two races in his rookie season so far, his first coming at Mugello before he triumphed at the Sachsenring in the final race before the summer break.

Heading into the British Grand Prix, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was lying second in the championship to Max Quiles, Moto3’s 2025 star rookie who has become the class’ dominant force in 2026. However, a crash at Silverstone – his first in a race this year – has seen Uriarte drop to fourth in the standings.

Before joining the world championship, Uriarte was the fourth rider in four years – after Angel Piqueras, Alvaro Carpe, and Jose Antonio Rueda – to win both the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and the Junior GP title in the same season, meaning he was already distinguished as a major prospect before moving to the world championship full-time.

But his career was potentially only one conversation away from following a much different path.

“I like motocross a lot,” Uriarte said in an interview with Crash.net ahead of the British Grand Prix. 

“I started with motocross and I think I have a good level there.”

Uriarte grew up in Cantabria, in northern Spain. There, there are no asphalt circuits, and the motocross tracks are made from the sand waste that comes from the region’s mines.

“I only train on sand because where I’m from there were many mines, that they cleaned the machines there, and the sand from the machines [is used to make the track],” he explained.

It’s not that Uriarte grew up at Lommel, but the Spaniard developed a strong ability on a dirt bike as a child.

“I have raced with many riders now that they are in MX2,” he says.

“Well, for me, I’m proud to race with these guys and I beat some of them, which, for me, I’m really proud about this!”

He added: “Francisco Garcia, he’s going to Kawasaki next year, and I was racing with him, battling, and many other riders, with Carlos Prat, Joel Canadas – many riders from Spain that nowadays they are on top and I used to race with them. 

“I battled with them many times, so I’m really proud of this!”

Before switching completely to circuit racing, Uriarte was racing both on asphalt and on the dirt.

“I was going to the road racing races just on the weekends, and all the full week I was doing motocross,” he said.

“So, I was training more on motocross than on road racing, because where I’m from there’s no road race tracks, and I only do motocross there. 

“Only on the weekends that we travelled for training and racing, and that was the only time that I was training [on asphalt].”

The switch to asphalt came when Uriarte was 10-years-old and a friend of his father advised that circuit racing was the better route if he wanted to become professional.

“My father got the problem that I was fast in both disciplines,” Uriarte joked.

“Maybe I was not the best, but I was fast in both. 

“So, he talked with one friend who was racing motocross as almost professional. He told to my father that it was better [to do] road racing because it had more projection. 

“In motocross there are many people and they’re really fast. 

“But I would like to be a motocross rider, also, if I was not racing this. So, he needed to decide and he put me here.”

Although he’s a circuit racer now, Uriarte still keeps up with the major races in the US and MXGP, preferring Jett Lawrence in AMA and Jeffrey Herlings in the world championship.

“I watch everything, I love it,” he said.

“I got the luck to know the Coenen brothers [Lucas and Sacha], and Kay de Wolf also.”

He continued: “I love Jett [Lawrence]. For me Jett is the GOAT. I love his style, and also Jeffrey Herlings would be always my idol in motocross. He was amazing riding in the sand and I love his riding style.”

“Atmosphere”: The biggest lesson of 2026

Speaking ahead of Silverstone, Uriarte was coming into the second half of his rookie season lying second in the championship, ahead of his second-year team-mate Alvaro Carpe and trailing only the overwhelming preseason favourite Max Quiles.

The run to that position accelerated at Mugello when he scored his first victory.

“It was unbelievable for me because I made the move in Savelli, the downhill, and, well, I risked a lot there because I knew in the uphill, when you come to the last chicane, there I needed to be first otherwise there will be many people trying to overtake and go to the front,” he said of the Mugello victory.

“I made it there first, I took a bit of advantage there, and the emotions were amazing when I crossed the finish line, I could not believe it. 

“I was so happy, also to see the people – that we were struggling at the beginning of the season – happy, for me was amazing.”

It was a first half that exceeded his own expectations, but it also came with its challenges in the early races.

“A lot better than expected, honestly,” the 18-year-old (he was 17 at the time of the interview) explained.

“So far, it’s going pretty good, we are now finding a good balance and we are pretty constant on every session which is the thing that we are looking for. 

“It’s true that in the new tracks I’m struggling more in the first sessions, but then I’m arriving to the top level. So it’s going pretty good. 

“We are learning and we are going stronger in the points that we are struggling the most. 

“I’m pretty happy because the beginning of the season was really difficult for me, I was struggling with the bike, it was difficult to make a good atmosphere in the team when you are not performing at your maximum. 

“Also my emotions were not the best in that moment – when things are not going well it’s difficult. But now we create a super-nice atmosphere and I’m really happy with my team.”

The feeling inside the garage with the team has been one of the most important things Uriarte has learnt in 2026 so far.

“I think the most important thing is to be happy inside the box and to make happy all the people inside the box, because when you make good work inside the track people work more happy, they work with a good atmosphere inside the box,” he said.

“This can help you because the people have the hunger to work and to win, and nowadays I think we reached this point. 

“It’s true that I learnt a lot in that moment [at the start of the season]; I think the moment I learnt the most in my career was the beginning of the season because I was struggling a lot and crashing, and having maybe little injuries. 

“When I noticed that I was doing something wrong, my mind changed, and nowadays I think I improved a lot. 

“But every race weekend is different and it’s not possible to win every race. Maybe one weekend can be better, one can be worse, but we will try to do our best.”

JuniorGP: The perfect school

An obvious part of a rookie season is learning new circuits. Coming from JuniorGP and Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, Uriarte has knowledge of many of the European tracks, but especially the overseas venues are new. 

For him, it’s not an instant process of getting up to speed on a new layout.

“Depends the rider, but for me I need the full weekend to be fast,” Uriarte said.

“But right now we have a really short time. It’s true that, back in the past, there was more time, but nowadays it’s more difficult. 

“Also, the people have a lot of experience and they are really fast instantly, so it’s the main difference now for me that I need to adapt to it. It’s true that I’m coming closer to it, but still we need to improve in that area.”

Videogames, on-board videos, and old races are all ways he is able to prepare for a new track.

“It’s true that videogames help a lot and the references are almost the same; the gearing and everything is quite close to real life,” Uriarte explained.

“So it’s helping me a lot. Also with the videos, the on-board, you learn a lot from the things you can make before arriving to a race track. 

“This can help you, but it’s true that there are some riders that do it and other riders that don’t do it. For me, it’s working well.”

He added: “I check the 2024 and 2025 [races] because they were using Pirellis, almost the same. So, I check those races and it helps.”

Not only has JuniorGP been good for Uriarte to have knowledge of some of the tracks, but it has proven a good preparatory school for not only himself, but also other riders looking to get into the world championship. 

Just in the past two seasons, Max Quiles, Uriarte himself, and Hakim Danish have all arrived in the world championship from JuniorGP and won races in their first season, plus riders like Alvaro Carpe, Valentin Perrone, and Veda Pratama have finished on the podium as rookies.

“I think absolutely, it’s working now for me, it’s working perfect,” Uriarte said of JuniorGP.

“I got prepared there because I got to know what is a professional team, a world championship team, because in JuniorGP, in my case, it was a team like in Moto3 nowadays. 

“I got to adapt there perfectly, and of course this can help me now. 

“It’s true that now the level in JuniorGP is really high, so you come really well prepared to the world championship and you can tell: Pratama is in the front, Danish won already one race, Morelli is also a rookie – it’s not considered but he’s a rookie – and he’s going for podiums.

“The level now of the rookies is really high, and we are all coming from the JuniorGP or Rookies Cup, so it’s a good base, a good lesson for the rookies.”

Challenging Quiles?

Uriarte was gifted a huge chance at Silverstone to try to close his gap in the championship to Quiles, who crashed in qualifying and had to miss the race because of a broken collarbone.

He was unable to take advantage, though, crashing in the closing stages of the race.

Already ahead of the weekend, Uriarte was considering his chances of being able to challenge for the title.

“It’s true that Quiles is the reference,” Uriarte said.

“But he has one year experience, which serves you a lot. For me, I’m a rookie and it’s true that in the beginning of the season I was trying a lot and I lost a lot of points there, maybe because of this, and I was not able to listen to the people because I was so focused on having results and this was not letting me enjoy the weekends. 

“Well, when I made this change on the mental side, now I’m enjoying the races and I’m coming closer to the leader, and in the last five races [before Silverstone] I’m the guy who took the most points – this is a positive thing. 

“Also it’s true that I got taken out the points of Barcelona. 

“But anyway, I’m not looking for this, I’m just looking to be better every day, to adapt to the category because I’m still adapting to it and learning from the leader – he’s the reference now for me. 

“Well, he’s on a really high level, but he’s not unbeatable. I beat him last time, and why not try to recover some points and maybe fight for the championship? You never know.”